Last mile connection – what does it mean?

What is the last mile connection and the last mile communications? It is a part of the provider's network which is closest to the customer. Check all the types of the last mile delivery systems.

In the entire communication between the provider and the customer, last mile is the closest part to the customer. For providers in telecommunication and cable television it is very expensive. They need to connect a cable to every customer and this has to be done manually.

There are many last mile delivery systems:

1) Traditional LAN
Traditional LAN systems use wires: UTP (or STP) cables, coaxial cable, and optics.

2) Analog modems
Analog modems on the existing telephone network offer slow speed, below 56 kbps.

3) ISDN
Digital ISDN technology offers more bandwidth and scalability to users but it also is going down in history.

4) DSL
DSL services offer much more bandwidth on the existing telephone infrastructure. They also support co-existence of voice and data.

5) CATV
Community Access Cable Television Systems, called cable, can be used now also for the bidirectional communications: for Internet access and Video on demand. Its problems are the limited S/N and the need in usage of the amplifiers.

6) Fiber optics
Fiber is an excellent medium, but its only problem is the cost.

7) Wireless networks

One of the advantages of wireless systems, such as WiMAX and WiFi, is that there is no need to install the physical line for every user.
Read more about what is WiMAX and what is Wifi.

8) Lightwaves
Waves used by visible and infrared light are shorter than radio frequency waves. The problem with this solution is the physical obstruction and absorption by fog or rain that can greatly reduce its use, especially over the longer distances.

9) Radio Waves
Radio frequencies (RF) have much longer wavelengths than light waves. They have lower attenuation and higher information capacity.

10) Satellite Communication
Satellite systems have high information capacity, but they are very expensive to deploy and therefore each satellite should have lots of users.